smellie

I contacted her about 2-3 weeks ago: just a brief email stating my area of interest, a couple of books/articles I read by her that I thought was indicative of the "good fit," and my intention to apply. The only question I had at the time was whether she'll be accepting new students. I tried to listen to the advice ppl have been giving here. I guess I should try again? One more question, what do you put in the email for your subject line? I'm so terribly at this...

So I've contacted a couple of professors for Ph.D programs, but without any luck - that is, no response at all. Should I bother resending them? Or would it be better to wait until the professors are back in school in September? I know some of my profs never answer emails from students during summer. p.s. I'm in humanities, and I did get into my current MA program without every talking/making contacts with my advisor. So I'm little confused about how important it really is to make that contacts..

Thanks! it makes me feel a bit better. Just to be more clear, the professor is away this year, so she will be back for my first year in Ph.D. I was wondering, to rephrase my question, if her being away during the application & selection process would be a minus for me..

Q1. The professor I am interested in working with is listed as "on-leave" for 2009-10. Would that hurt my chance of establishing contacts/being accepted? Q2. Has anybody reapplied or applied while being enrolled in a grad school and got better results? I am entering second year of an MA program right now, and am applying for Ph.D programs. This means I would have a new set of LORers, a different Writing Sample, and a transcript at a grad-level. Will all this make any difference? I must be insane to voluntarily put myself through this process again...

I applied to 10 schools, humanities program. 6: reach schools 2: in range schools 2: safety schools I ended up getting into 1 range school and 1 safety school, with full funding from the range school and partial from the safety. I know I applied to waay too many reach schools, but heck, why not.

I have few friends who were accepted to schools in UK but they decided to stay.. but two of my professors are from UCL, one of them being Canadian. She said she really loved it. I think Canadian schools have a lot more openings for ppl with UK ph.Ds (3 professors in my department earned their Ph.Ds in UK). Good luck with your future edndeavors in London

WOOHOO! That's awesome! So I guess I will see you in August, then?

After reading a whole bunch of posts, it should also be clear that grad admission is like lottery. Some will get in with not-so-great CV while some with great background gets rejected. Try 1-2 Ph.D programs that you'd be willing to go if accepted. No harm in trying, really.

I wonder if anybody would be willing to create some sort of network for gradacfe alumnae - exchanging ideas, reading papers, or just saying hello when going to the same conference. suddenly the world of academia seems so big and scary..

lxs: Congrats! So nice to see you getting the funding you so deserved. I hope you enjoy NY to the fullest

I'm not a poli-sci major, but as an international who applied/admitted to US schools, I can tell you that being internationl should be the least of your worry. They admit enough international students each year, and the funding is usually merit-based, though many external fellowships are limited to citizens. With GRE, just study, study, study. Even native speakers have difficulties getting good scores in GRE. You may have to put in some extra efforts into it, but it's certainly doable. You may, if circumstance still permits, try writing undergrad thesis or a good research paper. You will need this for your writing sample. A good wiriting smaple and SOP matters far more than GPA+GRE. That said, there are also many Master's programs in poli-sci that come with funding. You might want to apply both master's and ph.d programs, and see where it takes you. If you end up landing on an master's program, it will be a good steppingstong for your future endeavor in ph.d application.

charis: CONGRATULATIONS!! that is freaking amazing. awww ... yeah, I'd definitely pay them a visit. yeepee! If you're not an American citizen, there's virtually no way of working off-campus legally. You'd have to apply for work-study, which I think you need a departmetn approval.. not sure about it.

I've seen people who successfully negotiated from no-funding to full tuition. There is hope! Good luck!

charis: I've decided to take this summer easy. I used to work internship/job every summer, and going straight back to school after 3 months of work was physically, mentally exhausting after doing that for 3years. I plan on expanding one of my papers over the summer+fall and going to try publishing it in a grad-run journal. It may not get accepted, but I want the experience, if anything. Other than that, getting driver's license (no.. I grew up in cities where public transportation was excellent), travel, read, helping mom's business..

My funding package includes TAship+health insurance+15K stipend+tuition remission. I'm also going into MA program in humanities (art history). That said, it seems like it'll be a lot of loans for the MA. Have you contacted the department and negotiated your funding? Ask if they have TA positions available, or if there's possibilities for more funding. Let them know you'd really like to attend and that financial aspect worries you.

My school ends earlier than most US schools I thought you were in school, too, for some reason. Are you working currently? UMich: I just found and read a wonderful article written by the prof I wanted to work with at UMich. It made me very sad that I didn't get in I'll keep my fingers for you- good luck!

I just had my last, the LAST class of my undergrad career. woohoo! This thread has been my life support the past few months, and I'm glad that everyone seems to be landing on good schools Go us!

I heard if you let the school know that you have to attend the program, they'll expediate the process. I don't know where you're from/are now, but start getting all the documents together, ask the school to send you the appropriate I-20 etc. so that as soon as the school send you all necessary stuff, you could go ahead and submit your application. In my country, it only takes 2-3 days to get the visa once you submit/interview.

the self-important snob dares you! I do agree with Mnnesotan to certain extent. It's been traditionally an academia-oriented school, though the difficulties it has had with funding makes that reputation a bit shaky. If McGill had the financial resources that UofT has, it could've made a much better institution than it already is. It certainly took a hit when 45% of Quebecois decided to vote YES for separation. I'm not sure if I agree about the name value of York or Western in the states - I grew up near Western so my view of the school may be little tainted. They ARE good schools in certain areas, including business and management, which happens to be the bringer of reputation. So I think there're several factors to consider a) the regional factor - It seems there's a lot greater chance that a person from eastcoast will recognize the name than someone from, say, California. From the demographic of Americans I've encountered, many of them are from NY, NJ, Vermont, and other eastern part of the US. your discipline. McGill may be known to ppl working in certain field than others. c) French! I think that the fact that it's in Quebec, a francophone part of Canada, makes it somewhat more distant to some people. Though it is an English institution, I've seen people shy away from McGill specifically because they didn't want to deal with French issue outside the school. That being said, there's an incredibly large number of American citizens on McGill campus for its size. They seem to love it, especially if they were looking for a good quality education with good name for half the pricetag of private US school.

If you plan on coming back to N.America and get a job, I'd think it makes sense to do your degree here. That way you're in the loop, getting to know people and be aware of the potential job market.

I'm coming, too! (for MA) I come from a very non-athletic school and my knowledge of college sports league is below zero. So looks like I'd have a lot more than academics to catch up on!

UNC, humanities MA: TAship tuition waiver, 15K per year, health insurance I thought it was pretty good for an MA funding in humanities..

They were vague about exactly when they're sending them out, so I was wondering how other schools are doing. Thought I hadn't thought about the mail thing - thanks for the suggestion. This is my first time applying in the States, so everything's a bit hectic

Other than one piece of paper that told I got in, I haven't hear anything back from Grad Office. Since I accepted the offer, the department has sent me e-mails about funding package (TA for sure, then tuition remission was "recommended" to the Office), and is sending a confirmation letter about funding and advisor etc. But NOTHING from Grad office, no e-mail or no letters confirming anything. And it seems like they're not willing to send anything by priority mail, because it took 2 weeks for my admission letter to come in the first place. I'm very anxious to get start with my visa application, because from years of experience of living as a foreigner in North America/Europe, I learned that you can never have enough time with visa. The school even required me to send in financial documents when applying to "expediate" the process, but where are my letters??

Question to all: What constitutes a "full funding" in art history? And can someone share their experiences of securing fellowships while in MA? I was admitted on TAship (tuition remission+stipend), but I'm wondering if I could get my hands on some fellowships. It seemed like many of the external fellowships are for Ph.D candidates..